Distracted Driving
January 29, 2021
Every day about 8 people in the United States are killed in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver.1
What Is Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention away from the primary task of driving safely.
Highway Fatalities:
- 37,461 lives were lost on U.S. roads in 2016, an increase of 5.6% from 2015 NHTSA
Distracted Driving:
- 10% of fatal crashes and 15% of injury crashes in 2015 were distraction-affected. NHTSA.
- Distracted driving crashes are under-reported and the NSC estimates that cell phone use alone accounted for 27% of 2015 car crashes. NSC
- In 2015, there were 3,477 people killed and an estimated additional 391,000 injured in crashes involving distracted drivers. NHTSA
- The fatal crash rate for teens is 3 times greater than for drivers age 20 and over (IIHS)
- Driver distraction is responsible for more than 58% of teen crashes. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
The growing frequency of distracted driving is alarming:
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